October 2012

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Disney Style

  • Title: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
  • IMDB: link

With a hip hip and a clippity clop, He’s out looking for a head to swap, But don’t try to figure out a plan, You can’t reason with a headless man.

adventures-of-ichabod-and-mr-toadThere are numerous holiday specials, mostly Christmas inspired, but a small collection of really good Halloween cartoons. Many fondly remember It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown from their childhood, which I’ll admit also has a fond place in my heart, but my favorite Halloween cartoon was a Disney short that was inspired by Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

As our story opens the nerdy new school teacher, Ichabod Crane, arrives in the small New England town. Although Ichabod is soon popular with the ladies for his manners, training, and knowledge of books, even catching the eye of town beauty Katrina Van Tassel, he’s far less liked by the town’s rough-and-tumble man’s man Brom Bones. 

Not willing lose a girl like Katrina to a man like Ichabod Crane, Bones decides to prove Crane’s cowardice and scare him by telling the story of the Headless Horseman who haunts the local woods looking for a new head. Ichabod is thoroughly frightened and his night horse ride home has him seeing ghosts and specters at every bend and turn.

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Covert Affairs – Man in the Middle

  • Title: Covert Affairs – Man in the Middle
  • tv.com: link

covert-affairs-man-in-the-middle

After learning about a potential terrorist meeting from Eyal (Oded Fehr), Annie (Piper Perabo) puts her career on the line to turn an asset and discover the truth in the next twelve hours. Joan’s (Kari Matchett) concerns about the validity of the intelligence and Annie’s recent decision making forces our protagonist to go over Joan’s head and present her plan directly to Arthur (Peter Gallagher) to turn the girlfriend, a Staff Director for the House Energy and Commerce Committee (Michelle Nolden), of a State Department protected Middle East asset (Haaz Sleiman) in order to prove that he’s funding terrorist activities.

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National Comics: Madame X

national-comics-madame-x-one-shot-coverOriginally created back in 1978, Madame Xanadu has moved around the periphery of the DCU for years, sometimes helping others and sometimes further her own ends. The character was reintroduced in the New 52 as a supporting character in Justice League Dark and now earns her own one-shot with National Comics: Madame X (a title referring to DC Comics‘ former name).

The new version of the character, with her name shortened to Madame X, works as a magical consultant for the mayor of New Orleans after briefly using her gifts for fame which destroyed both her life and her reputation. (I’m guessing somebody at DC really likes The Mentallist.)

The one-shot features Madam X brought in to solve a case involving the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans (who’s not really a voodoo queen), a zombie (who’s not really a zombie), and the murder of a local councilman.

The comic’s not bad, but certainly nothing special. And with a $4 price tag, it probably will appeal to only longtime fans of the character. Hit-and-Miss.

[DC, $3.99]

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News and Notes – Community to return in February

  • Title: Community – Season Four
  • tv.com: link

CommunityFebruary 7th is the new October 19th, at least according to Community‘s Yvette Nicole Brown who tweeted early yesterday afternoon that the show will finally return to the airwaves to begin its 13-episode Fourth Season beginning on February 7th. After the show was yanked from its original return date of October 19th the cast had a little fun at NBC’s expense by stating that whenever the show eventually aired that day would be the nineteenth of October. So, at least for Community fans, it appears that February 7th is now the new October 19th.

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